June 4, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

The Tibetan Belt

I was away last week and stayed at a house filled with beautiful objects including this belt which I believe is Tibetan. I loved trying to capture it’s intricacies while trying to balance out with making the study ‘too tight’.

Belt with silver and coral, watercolour and graphite , 29 May 2015

Tibetan belts can be quite elaborate items as I experienced first hand when traveling there some years ago. This woman was herding yaks and sheep and as my cynical partner would no doubt rightly note she was keeping an eye out for tourists passing along the main highway!

Tibetan woman herder

May 18, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Mt Aggie

It turned out to be a brilliant weekend weather-wise. A perfect pair of Autumn days. Striking blue skies, a crisp temperature of 17C and virtually no wind. So on Sunday we packed some sandwiches and headed out to Namadgi National Park for a spot of bush-walking and painting. Our destination was Mount Aggie, at 1,421 metres (4,662 ft), which sits on the ridge-line which marks the western border between the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.

Mountain views, from Mt Aggie, Australian Capital Territory, 17 May 2015

Mt Aggie may not be the loftiest of peaks in the range but it’s summit is readily accessible by a fairly short and easy walking trail. From the top there is a truly panoramic view out over the Bimberi Nature Reserve and Kosciusko National Park and even down to the Bogong Range in Victoria. We were particularly pleased to see a Wedge-tailed Eagle flying overhead shortly after we reached the summit.

We had a great time drawing and only shared the summit temporarily with another small group of walkers. I tried to capture the ridges disappearing into the distance, using the double spread of my Moleskine watercolour book. I think I’d need 3 double pages to capture the full view.

The view to the northwest from Mt Aggie, watercolour and graphite, 17 May 2015

It was a truly magic day. I’ll leave you with a shot of this small paper daisy, one of the last flowers of the season.

Paper Daisy, Mt Aggie, 17 May 2015

April 17, 2015April 22, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Slow days on the river

Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), watercolour and graphite pencil, 14 April 2015

Part of the birthday celebrations, just past, included four days on a house boat on the lower portion of the Murray River, part of the largest river system in the country.
There was lots to draw including a wide range of bird life. The most obvious were the pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus), calmly paddling along the river and getting a very good feed, it seemed, at every turn. I made a variety of sketches during our trip trying to capture some of the variety of the bird’s actions I observed.

Pelicans, water soluble graphite, 15 April 2015

Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) flew around the boat continuously capturing insects disturbed by our passing and cheekily roosting on the rails of the boat. We also saw lots of Australian Darters (Anhinga melanogaster) sitting, drying their wings, on convenient branches on the river margins. The darters lived up to their name with their necks twisting and swiveling to see what was happening in their vicinity.

A pelican, some welcome swallows and some darters, graphite and watercolour, 14 & 15 April 2015

Next post I’ll share with you some of the river scenery.

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Kangaroo Wednesday

We were still down at the beach on Wednesday so I had to forgo my regular coffee shop visit. Instead I had a pleasant cup of coffee, seated on the verandah of our cabin while this chap, an Eastern Grey kangaroo, munched on the lawn next to me.

An Eastern Grey kangaroo, graphite, 18 March 2015

March 13, 2015March 15, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Dr Sketchy at the NGA

Last night we went to the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) for my first event with the Dr Sketchy group. We had only heard about this particular event earlier in the week, and were lucky to get tickets as it was quickly sold out. I had only read about these events before so if you haven’t been to one this is the risque version of a life drawing class and includes music, food, drink and entertainment as well as the opportunity to draw.

Last night’s theme was Impressions of Paris, inspired the current exhibition of the same name, featuring the works of the French artists Degas and Lautrec and Daumier. We had burlesque dancers and performers, ballet dancers and a body painting artist on hand.

Two versions of Ms Bandersnatch, either side of Ms Martini, pen and ink and Pitt pen on newspaper and Japanese paper, 12 March 2015

We started off with a series of two minute poses, which then developed into five and ten minute poses. There was a break where all the participants were asked to decorate a ‘pastie’, before we were all asked to continue on with the drawing.

I had forgotten how fast the pace can be with life drawing and I quickly whipped through the pages in my sketch book. I remembered my life drawing instructor reminding me that if it all became too much I could just focus on one part of the model’s anatomy, so here are Ms Bandersnatch’s feet.

Ms Bandersnatch’s feet, graphite, 12 March 2015

The drawing continued with short breaks for the models and artists, the finale of the evening was a twenty minute pose.

The body painting models, graphite, 20 minute pose, 12 March 2015

I was absolutely thrilled when the voluptuous Ms Garnet Martini selected my sketch as her favourite of the evening!

Ms Garnet Martini, channeling fin de siecle Paris, graphite, 12 March 2015

My reward was a set of pasties made by the talented Ms Rusty Blaze – thankfully Ms Bandersnatch was on hand to demonstrate how best to use my new accoutrements.

We had a great time and enjoyed the company of the other artists at our table. We plan to attend future events, as long as we can get in fast enough to buy the tickets.

leonieandrews

Tag / graphite